Michael Lewis: ‘Can’t Be Too Stupid to Play Baseball,’ NBA/NFL More ‘Articulate’

BOSTON—”You can’t be too stupid to play baseball,” according to Moneyball author Michael Lewis, “I was struck by how articulate (NFL and NBA) players were, compared to baseball.”

Certainly the most controversial statement of the weekend of talking Value Add Basketball (see top 100 below) at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference that included everyone from stats guru Nate Silver (left in the photo with me) to NBA commissioner Adam Silver to New York Mets GM Sandy Alderson to former basketball national champion at Duke Shane Battier.

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While Charles Barkley was also attacked frequently for his recent comments describing analytics as “crap” pushed by a “bunch of guys who never played the game and never got the girls in high school,” most of the weekend was spent using very friendly language about the need to balance the observation of scouts with analytics breakthroughs—a balancing act I did in naming the Breitbart Sports All-American team last week.

For example, from a pure analytics/Value Add perspective Gary Payton II of Oregon State ranks as a 1st team All-American; Jahlil Okafor of Duke gives up so many points in the paint, turnovers, and missed free throws that he fails to make the top team. However, we balance the analytics with expert observation, and named Okafor first team instead.

That being said, here are the pure numbers as the regular season closes. The two big breakthroughs come from the Big East. Playing great against the No. 2 conference based on RPI and most computer systems has propelled St. John’s Sir’Dominic Pointer to the verge of a 1st team All-American (6th and behind only Karl-Anthony Towns of Kentucky among powerforwards).

One I will argue with observers on is D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera of Georgetown, who has moved up to 13th in the country and second in the Big East despite getting little credit. Pointer has averaged 19 points and 4 blocked shots a game during a 6-1 stretch that has St. John’s securely back in the NCAA tournament. Smith-Rivera has been dominant in Georgetown’s current 3-1 streak with an offensive rating of 134 (would score 134 points in 100 times with the ball) including hitting seven three-pointers in the only loss as they split with St. John’s.